Write to Ray LaHood

[Tricia Kovacs]

Dear Bicycle Driving,
My biggest concern right now in Columbus, Ohio is the embracing of the
experimental, "innovative", segregated bicycle facilities espoused by
NACTO. The city engineers and their consultants are using the NACTO
guide as their "playbook", and we have local LCIs asking for bike lanes
to be placed between the parking lane and the curb. I feel like I'm
tilting at windmills, as the saying goes.

I've written to Andy Clark and others at LAB to ask them to please stop
endorsing NACTO. But he just responds that I'm diminishing my
effectiveness and credibility. If my opposition to experimental
facilities that put cyclists in danger makes me ineffective and
incredible, then so be it.

So yesterday I wrote to Ray LaHood to ask HIM to please stop endorsing
the NACTO guide. I asked him to endorse the latest AASHTO guide only,
now that it has been revised. I feel that one person as inconsequential
as myself has no voice in this issue. If everyone on this list could
write to Mr. LaHood, perhaps it would have more of an impact. I have so
much respect for so many of you on this forum, and I hope that your
voices (and many voices) would have a greater impact.

You may be opposed to some of the facilities in the AASHTO guide. You
may think that all we should do is fight to keep our legal right to use
the roadways and to educate other cyclists how to use them. But I hope
you will agree with me that we need to oppose the NACTO nonsense.

Ray LaHood's email address is ray.l...@dot.gov
I first wrote via his website, and was told I should write to his email
address directly.
Sincerely,
Tricia Kovacs
Gahanna (Columbus), Ohio

P.S. If you would like me to forward you the email that I sent to Mr.
LaHood, just let me know.

[Bob Sutterfield]

1) Andy responds with an Ad Hominem attack, unrelated to the specific technical issues she raises.

2) By your inconsistency with his message, you're diminishing your effectiveness at the purpose he would like you to serve, and your credibility if you were to support his causes.  I think that's a good thing.

These are symptoms of the reasons I left LAB.

[Richard Wharton]

Tricia, et al. Forward these comments to Gail Spann. I riled her up the other day online, and she needs to know your displeasure. At $400k in donations, Andy ought to be licking her boot.

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Richard Wharton
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[Bike Mom]

Tricia, I assume you are referring to the green bike lanes projects that have recently been highlighted as the savior of bicycling for that segment of the population that is afraid to get on the road.  If so, the article in one of the bicycling magazines makes a strong case for these types of lanes.  Would you please share the email you sent?

[Mark Ortiz]

Green bike lanes are only one of a catalog of oddball ideas NACTO is pushing.  They’re also big on buffered/separated bike lanes and cycle tracks.

 

As people in Hawaii conceive it, what is the green supposed to do or mean?  In Charlotte, they add a sign saying yield to bikes.  What the rules are when the bike lane isn’t green or there is no such sign, nobody knows.

 

 

Mark Ortiz

--

[Natalie aka Bicycle Mom]

I haven’t heard much talk about green bike lanes in Hawaii.  I do know people want to put bike lanes in on King Street and possibly Beretania, and discussions include keeping the parking and adding a lane on the narrow portion of the lane that is left.  Since this article came out, I think people will start picking up on this type of lane.  I’d like to see Tricia’s email, because I’m sure she includes reasons why they, and other special lanes, are not a good idea.

 

Pedaling Toward a Bicycle-Safe Hawaii – Same Roads, Same Rules, Same Rights

 

A hui hou, Natalie

[Patricia Kovacs]

Dear Natalie,

I attached a PDFt with my letter to Ray LaHood. I only mentioned 3 of the facilities which I dislike in the NACTO guide - cycletracks, bike boxes and bicycle signals. There are plenty of other things I don't like, but the green lanes are less onerous to me than the other things.

There are a lot of different versions of the cycletracks in the NACTO guide - some are at street level, some are at sidewalk level, some are "protected" by the parking lane, some are protected by raised barriers. I consider cycletracks at street level as bike lanes and cycletracks at sidewalk level as sidepaths. But sidepaths are different than cycletracks because they are multi-use vs. cyclist-only. AASHTO is clear about why bike lanes shouldn't be inside the parking lane (reduces visibility at driveways and intersections, increases dooring, complicates maintenance and prevents left turns) or protected by raised barriers (prevent motorists from merging when turning, complicates maintenance). One of my biggest concerns about cycletracks is the conflicts with transit users at bus stops, which NACTO tries to address by routing the cycletrack around the bus stop.

AASHTO is also clear about the dangers of sidepaths. The new guide states that sidepaths should NOT be a substitute for on-street bicyle faciltiies, which is something I'm seeing here in central Ohio, especially in the suburbs. AASHTO is not perfect. I'll forward you a separate email about my concerns about the new AASHTO guide.

Regarding Mark's question on what the green means. There is no Ohio law that motorists must yield to cyclists on green pavement. There  is a city ordinance in Columbus that motorists are prohibited from driving in bike lanes, but are allowed to merge across bike lanes when parking or turning, after yielding to cyclists in the bike lane. The green is supposed to make the bike lane more visible to motorists. It is not included in the new AASHTO guide or the FHWA MUTCD, but Ohio has interim approval to use it.

Tricia

---

From: Natalie aka Bicycle Mom <the-gr...@hawaii.rr.com>

I’d like to see Tricia’s email, because I’m sure she includes reasons why they, and other special lanes, are not a good idea.

 

From: Mark Ortiz [mailto:markor...@windstream.net]

[Michael Graff]

On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 8:06 PM, Patricia Kovacs <pko...@att.net> wrote:

The green is supposed to make the bike lane more visible to motorists.

This is silly, of course.  Motorists yield to *traffic*, not to *lanes*.

[Rodney Rudinger]

Besides being a waste of paint, with the green lanes there is the issues of the discoloration of the lanes due to dirt and wear, not to mention making the lane "slipperier".  I don't know what the coefficient of friction is between bare pavement and a bicycle tire vs. that of a painted surface vs. a bicycle tire, but I strongly suspect the painted surface is more slippery than bare pavement, especially in inclement weather.  This would lead to more skidding and "loss of control" accidents.

[Mark Ortiz]

So it just makes the lane more visible – I suppose because just a white stripe isn’t visible?  Except sometimes it means there’s an exception to normal right of way laws – but only when local authorities say so.  And what the normal right of way laws for bike lanes are is undefined.  Except in some places they are defined – only not the same way as other places.

 

Right.

 

And what band-aid are they going to come up with to band-aid this band-aid?  Count on it, there’ll be one.

 

Is anybody but me ready for a movement that stands up and calls bullshit on these commercially motivated hucksters and forthrightly takes them to task as the con artists that they are?

 

 

Mark Ortiz

--

[Wayne Pein]

I've been calling bullshit on pnp crap for a number of years via my
critiques and other writings on my website:
http://bicyclingmatters.wordpress.com/

Wayne



On 10/12/12 11:45 PM, Mark Ortiz wrote:
> So it just makes the lane more visible � I suppose because just a white
> stripe isn�t visible? Except sometimes it means there�s an exception to
> normal right of way laws � but only when local authorities say so. And

> what the normal right of way laws for bike lanes are is undefined.

> Except in some places they are defined � only not the same way as other

> places.
>
> Right.
>
> And what band-aid are they going to come up with to band-aid this

> band-aid? Count on it, there�ll be one.

[John Forester]

Much of my criticism of bicycle facilities may be found under the
following URL:
http://johnforester.com/Articles/facilities.htm

--
John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St. Lemon Grove CA 91945-2306
619-644-5481 fore...@johnforester.com
www.johnforester.com